Pumped about Plants

i felt like this post needed an exclamation mark because i’m quite excited about plants at the moment. you might remember my post, more than a year ago now, about wanting to get some indoor plants. if you are keen to get some plants but don’t know where to start definitely read the comments in that post – incredibly informative and helpful. subsequently i started out with succulents because i thought they wouldn’t be too easy to kill. turns out i kind of underestimated how fickle plants can be – succulents need plenty of light but not too much direct sunlight, and only occasional watering. they’re like teenagers, they kind of just want to be left alone. after a bit of trial and error my succulents are still thriving many months later.

so i feel like i’m ready to explore a brave new world of botanical treasures! and i dipped my toe into that pond recently when i bought a plant for anton’s birthday. i wanted to find an indoor plant that ventured into delicious monster / swiss cheese territory (mmm, cheese) and ended up picking out this regal guy which so nicely matches his manly chair:

that is a split leaf philodendron by the way. thanks for pointing that out, matt.

it’s a nice size, and i think something that would work well gathered together with similarly sized plants. like so,

wall plants have taken to another level by the clever guys at woolly pocket…

whichever way i end up going (and i might go in all directions eventually) i’m even more pumped about plants now. is your home being overrun by plants? cause if it is – i want to see! please share links to your blog / instagram / flickrs in the comments (and any plant tips are always appreciated)

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I recently moved to a ground floor apartment, and as we were getting installed, all the plants were stored in the kitchen, which has vine-covered windows looking out to a plant-covered concrete backyard (better than it sounds, though!). The kitchen is now plant-centre but I like the effect too much, and now I need plants to fill the others rooms! I may have suggested them when you first posted about your love of plants, but I’m a big fan of spider plants and pothos (the hanging plants in no 5 and 8). They both have a really nice effect, you can start new plants off them easily, and they require little care (once-a-week watering). Photos of my forest-like kitchen to come :)

Take a look at Isabel Duprat’s work, specially her own apartment! She’s a brazilian landscape designer, very talented!
I have a picture of her apartment here: http://pinterest.com/pin/197736239859928208/
But please google her! You’ll be amazed! :)

oh how funny because recently i have been taking care of myplants! we have mainly herbs (basil, rosemary,sage,oregano, etc) and some plants and working on florals, i find it alot of fun and i do my research in my notebook on how to properly care for them, its given me such motivation! and good for us and the earth :)

I’m in love with a fiddle fig plant, it just doesn’t know it yet. That’s the beautiful beast in the first image of your big plants section. I just need to wait for winter to be over before it becomes available here. You started out with a lovely plant (and love the decor!)

There are some houses on my street that have INCREDIBLY plant action. They are like jungles up against their windows, overflowing from their windowsills. I live in envy. I’ve tried growing things but our windows are either get too much sun, or not enough. Oh the eternal struggle!

Thanks for the kudos Ms. Moss :) Glad I could help on helping identify your new bundle of flora goodness. As you know I’m a bit of a plant nuts, you can see a few in our Design Sponge Sneak Peek here: http://www.designsponge.com/2012/04/sneak-peek-matt-kathy-allison.html I also have a ‘How to make a terrarium post’ here: http://www.curatethisspace.com/how-to-make-a-terrarium/, it was syndicated in print last month’s issue of HOME, with a 6 page spread on growing houseplants, I can send you the PDF if you want? Keep up the great work, beautiful inspiration above, in case anyone is wondering those BIG ones are called Fiddle Leaf Figs, or Ficus Lyrata, I have one as well, though it’s much smaller.

Plants make my heart beat faster! I’ve been a collector of plants, mainly succulents, for several years now. I’m lucky to have great light in my apartment, and a little balcony with plenty of sun exposure.

I have several animal planters on sale at my Etsy shop right now. Also, check out my Pinterest boards on balcony gardening and vertical gardening. I have planted a shoe holder garden two years in a row, and those photos are pinned also.

I have a few house pants that I love, and now I want more! I would suggest a mister for spraying them every few days. I do this since the humidity/ dryness can vary in my apartment. I think they like the attention! I also give my plants plant food regularly, and don’t be afraid to trim if necessary. I put rocks or marble as decoration inside, on the dirt too.

I just made a little terrarium for my boyfriend out of a 60’s geometric light fixture, as a suprise for my boyfriend, and then the next day he brought home a beautiful 60’s terrarium with black bottom and clear lid, and its beautiful! Check out my instagram, there’s some pictures of the terrarium.

I’m fortunate in that my Dad is a keen collector of succulents of all shapes and sizes. He has a good number of really large cacti in his home. We are East Coast-ers here in the States, so our winters get very cold, but he’s managed to keep most of them growing anywhere from 10 to 25 years. Several are immense. Recently he gave me a sizable Mexican Fence Cactus, which I am pretty excited about. Most of my house plant collection is thanks to his generosity (and/or cuttings). I’ve been particularly into rare and strangely beautiful plants lately – so much so that my most recent collection of hair accessories are all plant/succulent inspired. My personal favorite is the Night Blooming Cactus-inspired piece:

Oh, quite a nice set of photos you have here! I take care of succulents too. I want to put more indoor plants but I’m worried about my books and the humidity. Our house is very small and I have to think twice before introducing more flora into our home. But those hanging plants seems practical! I might give it a shot…

Love this! I love succulents, spider plants and air plants. I’d like to branch out further, too. The fun thing with the spider plant is that I started out with one big one, and I’ve made about 10 starters from it (plus I still have the original big one.)

My dad had a wall of shelves full of plants when he was in college. So cool. He used to use big old glass battery cases as terrariums.

I love the GIANT plant from Elle Decor. I just moved back home from Amsterdam had to give away all my darling plants from the past three years. I think that was the hardest thing to giveaway even though its so affordable to replace them. It was so nice to watch the plants change and grow over the years. I also found these vertical gardens http://www.nats-umi.com/2012/03/24/vertical-gardens/ that you might like.

I LOVE this post. We have many plants as well- so many that are pictured. Now I know that I need to add a fiddle leaf fig tree to the fold. If you’re interested in seeing them in our home, have a look at this recent project I secretly undertook as a gift for my husband for our anniversary: http://620collegewood.schmolio.com/

It is the origin story of our mid-century home as told through correspondance among me and the daughters, granddaughters and a family friend of the original owners. There is a section of the site called “the life” which depicts the house as we’re living in it today among many plants (and our four cats) as you’ll see.

I love this post (and plants, of course!) and get back to it every now and then. But lately I can’t open the pics anymore, I see only their credits, even though I tried in a couple of different computers and browsers and connections… So I wondered if the issue was actually in your website and wanted to let you know. Hope I can access the whole thing again soon!